Domain Rating (DR) is an SEO metric developed by Ahrefs that shows the strength of your website’s backlink profile compared to other websites online.
DR is measured on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100, with a higher score showing you have a more authoritative website.
The higher your Domain Rating, the more competitive keywords you can target and the more likely you are to rank higher in the search results.
Logarithmic scale means that the gap between a DR78 and DR80 is much bigger than the gap between a DR20 and DR22.
In other words, the higher your DR is, the more difficult it is to increase it.
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What Will I Learn?
These are some of the top ways to use Domain Rating to help your SEO:
The most important thing to remember about Domain Rating is that it’s a comparison metric.
For example, when doing keyword research, if you see other websites with a similar DR ranking – There is a good chance you can also rank for that keyword.
Simple, right?
Domain Rating is calculated by the quantity and quality of backlinks.
It takes into account a number of different factors including:
Domain Rating only takes into account dofollow referring domains and backlinks. Noffolow links do not pass DR.
The easiest way to check to check your Domain Rating is to use Ahrefs’ free Website Authority Checker.
Enter your domain and click “Check Authority”.
Ahrefs will show your Domain Rating along with the total number of backlinks and link websites.
A good Domain Rating is considered 50 or above. This demonstrates an authoritative site with a solid backlink profile and good ranking potential.
Below is a table that shows you the differences in authority of Domain Rating:
| Domain Rating | Authority |
|---|---|
| DR19 & Under | Very Low Authority |
| DR20 to DR34 | Low Authority |
| DR35 to DR49 | Medium Authority |
| DR50 to DR80 | High Authority |
| DR81 & Above | Very Higher Authority |
Here’s the thing to remember…
Domain Rating is relative. That means you should only compare your Domain Rating with sites in your industry and your key competitors.
Let me explain:
If a website with a DR100 gets more backlinks, Ahrefs doesn’t increase the DR to 101. Instead, they push all the other sites down and lift the standard of Domain Rating as a whole.
What does that mean?
Domain Rating is relative. Ahrefs compares your backlink profile to other sites before assigning you a Domain Rating.
Your goal SHOULD NOT be to reach the highest DR possible.
It SHOULD simply be to have a higher DR than your competitors.
To increase your Domain Rating, follow these 3 steps:
Your first step should be to create great content that people naturally want to link to.
People want to link to content that helps others:
Brainstorm content ideas and do keyword research to help you find great topics to cover.
Add images, videos, tables, FAQs and more to make your content stand out.
Great content that people love is the best way to attract good links from other websites.
The main thing that affects your Domain Rating is the number and quality of links.
That means you need to build more backlinks. The good news is there are tons of link building strategies you can use.
Here are a few of the top ones:
If you need more help, we’ve put together a complete link building checklist to make it easier to build high DR backlinks.
The truth is link building is really hard work.
Increasing your Domain Rating can feel like an uphill battle because it’s dependent on the number of backlinks you have.
If you are stuck, then we recommend hiring trusted link building services to:
That way you can focus on growing your business while the pros take care of your links. They have a reputation for building high-authority links that will benefit your SEO.
Our favourite link building service is LinksThatRank.
Looking for more ways to increase your Domain Rating? Check out our complete increase domain authority guide.
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